Last month I shared about the new soccer field at our Las Alitas youth center in Juarez, Mexico. It is helping us make a positive impact in the lives of the youth we serve. After catechism classes and bible studies, everyone heads out to the field for team sports and recreation.
Las Alitas is in a rough area of east Juarez with much poverty and vice. Many of the children in our program come from broken families and have sad stories to share. Lucy (not her real name) is 15 years old. Her mother and stepfather get drunk everyday. She sighed, “I’m tired of my family. There are fights everyday and then they get drunk, and then they get ‘happy’ again. If it wasn’t for Las Alitas, I don’t know what I’d do. The only day I am happy is when I come here on Saturdays. I forget about all my problems and everything is okay. It’s like I’m in heaven. That’s why I am here – I feel at peace.” For her it is a refuge.
The boys say the same thing. Albert (another alias) first came to us when he was 11. His parents were not interested in him and he started smoking marijuana to ease his sadness and depression. He is now 16 and shared, “I stopped smoking pot. When I came to Las Alitas and got involved with the soccer team, I had no desire for it. It’s when I’m at home all alone, that’s when I get tempted. When I’m here, I forget about it.”
One of the boys, who has to work on Saturdays now and can’t come, said, “I miss you guys. I want to be there. I want to go to church. You are my family.”
The older kids who have been coming to Las Alitas for many years are very united and supportive of one another. They encourage one another to keep pursuing a better path than what they see around them. Two of our teens are enrolled and going to the university. Others will be graduating from high school soon (a huge accomplishment in itself) and hopefully will go on to college.
These details keep us going. Sometimes we get discouraged knowing what these kids are up against and hearing yet another sad tale, and we wonder if we are making a difference. But then we catch a glimmer of light here and there, so we roll up our sleeves and get back to work, redoubling our efforts to bring hope for a brighter future to these beautiful young people. Thank you for helping us do that!